Quarantine mandate could be reduced to 5 days

Social Affairs

Published: 26 Mar. 2023, 19:42 Updated: 28 Mar. 2023, 10:08

Quarantine mandate could be reduced to 5 days

Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, right, speaks during a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting in Jongno District, central Seoul, last Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The seven-day quarantine mandate in Korea for anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus might soon be reduced to five days.

Local health authorities on Sunday said they were reviewing changes to one of the country's last-remaining Covid restrictions, adding that a final decision was expected within the coming days.

Precisely when the isolation period will be shortened is unknown. But officials with knowledge of internal discussions hinted it could be earlier than late April.

In explaining why the policy was being changed, a health official who spoke with the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity on Sunday said that Korea was seeing fewer new infections than in the past, and that the coronavirus itself seemed to have weakened. The fact that society has built a higher immunity rate due to previous mass infections was also considered, the official noted.

As of March 13, only a handful of countries had seven-day quarantine policies, including Japan, New Zealand, Latvia, Belgium and Costa Rica. In Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Israel, the rule is to quarantine for five days.

Most other countries, including the United States and Canada, either don't require isolation or only go so far as to recommend one.

As with the indoor mask mandate at high-risk facilities, health authorities on Sunday said changes to that didn't seem likely for the time being.

Since March 20, the Korean government has allowed people to unmask on public transportation, but said masks still needed to be put on at hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, welfare centers for the disabled and mental health centers.

Visitors to pharmacies in large supermarkets or subway stations, however, don't have to wear masks.

Even without the mask mandate, officials stressed that masks are still the most basic means to protect oneself from Covid, strongly advising people to put them on when using public transit during rush hour.

Health authorities said they would heed advice on current Covid-related policies from experts during a meeting scheduled for Monday.

Based on the advice, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, Korea's Covid-19 control tower, will finalize the country's "roadmap for returning to normalcy" on Wednesday at the earliest, officials said.

"Based on the current trend, I think it's okay to reduce the isolation period from seven days to five," said Jung Ki-suck, a pulmonary and allergy professor at Hallym University Medical Center in Anyang, Gyeonggi, who's head of an experts' group that provides advice to the government on Covid.

"The [virus] has gotten a lot weaker, and we have vaccines and treatments."

BY YI WOO-RIM, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]